Will Keith Ablow Become The Latest Fox News Candidate?

Another Fox News contributor is thinking of making a run for office as a Republican.

Fox News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow is reportedly considering running for John Kerry's Massachusetts Senate seat in the event Kerry is confirmed as the next secretary of state. Ablow, who has a long history of making outrageous (often anti-gay) comments, is the latest in a long line of conservatives who have attempted to use their Fox News platform as a springboard into political office.

According to a report in the Boston Herald, Ablow released a statement indicating he would be open to "seriously" considering a senate run if neither Scott Brown nor William Weld run for Kerry's seat:

Ablow, 51, of Newbury, who state records show has supported the campaigns of Republican candidates for office, including Charlie Baker's failed 2010 run for governor, could not immediately be reached for comment this morning, but in a statement said: "The dysfunction in Washington and the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut are both signs this country needs help, and, if neither William Weld nor Scott Brown is the candidate to bring that help from Massachusetts to Washington, I will take those who have asked me to run much more seriously.

"It is time, on so many levels, for real leadership based on the truth," he added.

Ablow is a member of the "Fox News Medical A-Team," and a regular columnist for FoxNews.com.

Several Fox News contibutors have followed a similar path:

Before the 2012 GOP presidential primaries, Fox News employed Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as contributors, giving both a megaphone to reach a conservative audience. (Following criticism that Fox paychecks to political candidates could be considered in-kind contributions, the network eventually suspended both in March of 2011.)

Current Ohio Governor John Kasich spent nine years at the network and was subsequently elected with the help of his former colleagues, who fundraised for him, offered him regular softball interviews, and repeatedly praised him on-air. Even though Kasich had made noise about a potential run long before officially declaring, the network still allowed him to appear on-air, during which he touted his own background and accomplishments.

Fox News political analyst Angela McGlowan ran for Congress in Mississippi in 2010. Though she eventually lost her race, the network still offered her a helping hand, allowing her to appear on-air and discuss her potential candidacy while she was still employed at the network. She "officially" declared her candidacy after her contract expired. (She has since been re-hired by the network.)

More recently, last November then-Fox News contributor Pete Snyder announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination for Virginia lieutenant governor. Snyder's campaign website and the press release announcing his intention to run for office both tout his role at Fox News.

For his part, Keith Ablow often uses his Fox platform to engage in ham-handed, outlandish psychoanalysis of various media and political figures. For example, during an appearance on Fox & Friends after last October's vice presidential debate, Ablow told viewers that "speaking as a psychiatrist," it was his opinion that Vice President Joe Biden may have been suffering from dementia or possibly had been drinking before the debate. He has also blamed the rise of birtherism on Obama supposedly "sever[ing] himself from all core emotion."

Last April, when Obama said that a Supreme Court decision to overturn the health care law would be "unprecedented" and "extraordinary," Ablow claimed the criticism stemmed from the fact that Obama finds authority "untrustworthy" because his parents had "abandoned" him.

Ablow, however, saves his worst vitriol for the LGBT community. In 2011, Ablow drew criticism for his tirade against Chaz Bono's appearance on Dancing With The Stars, when he claimed the transgender Bono was a woman suffering from a "psychotic delusion," and told parents to shield their children from Bono's appearances on the show, lest they be encouraged to want to become transgender themselves.

Ablow touted a widely debunked anti-gay parenting study last year, even suggesting that the children of gay parents are at risk of sexual abuse. He has also promoted the myth that sexual orientation is the result of environmental factors, and can therefore be influenced or changed.

Will Fox News continue to give Ablow a regular platform now that he has announced his potential candidacy?

On December 7, President-elect Donald Trump named Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as his pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Media should take note of Pruitt’s climate science denial, his deep ties to the energy industries he will be charged with regulating, and his long record of opposition to EPA efforts to reduce air and water pollution and combat climate change.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked -- or considered -- nearly a dozen people who have worked in right-wing media, including talk radio, right-wing news sites, Fox News, and conservative newspapers, to fill his administration. And Trump himself made weekly guest appearances on Fox for a number of years while his vice president used to host a conservative talk radio show.